


Roles Reversed and Friends to Find

by ahoy_m8tee



Category: Homestuck
Genre: An AU where friends meet out of order, Basically, Gen, Roleswap, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 10:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5087977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahoy_m8tee/pseuds/ahoy_m8tee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which our Dolorosa missed her chance to leave, and another old friend takes her stead. Kankri grows up tired and thin. He knows a slave's life firsthand. But most importantly, he still finds all the friends he should have had from the very beginning. Some just take a little longer to find than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Roles Reversed and Friends to Find

**Author's Note:**

> This was an edited version of the rant I plopped in a skype window with tumblr user oskarna based solely on the self-given prompt of "what if the Dolorosa wasn't the one who raised Kanny?"... Ended up accidentally writing a fic. Here ya go!

Maybe it's Mituna who's our elder instead

Maybe he's a slave who works in a caravan.

A trade caravan of sorts, who wouldn't really notice if an extra little one was around so long as he wasn't taking too much food.

Mituna doesn't eat much anyway so when he stumbles across an abandoned runt of a grub on their stop by the brooding caverns, specifically, a stop with the jadebloods for spare grubs to make dye with, he wonders what he has to lose.

He first notices this stray grub’s strange color and is taken aback somewhat, but doesn't pay it much mind. That is, until he realizes that no one's looking for this one. He wasn't part of the shipment. He must have found his way out on his own. The yellowblood doesn't know what possesses him, but he picks the little one up and hates to admit that he smiles when it chirps happily at his touch. Maybe he even puts the little one back but guess who found their way into his knapsack when he wasn't looking-- whoops looks like he’s officially along for the ride.

Mituna keeps him around because for some reason he doesn't want to turn him in to the grubcrushers. Such a funny color might not make any good grubloaf or paint, right? Right that’s totally it.

No one pays attention to the slave hand who's just around to lift things, or what’s in the sling across his back that chirps and chitters quietly to itself. Most of the time he doesn't even travel with the main caravan. His collar has a good forty feet of lead on it so he hangs back whenever possible. Our disgruntled yellowblood may complain and grumble about the chore of grubrearing, but he still splits his meager food with the grub for a bit, thinking he'll ditch him with the first good, responsible-looking lusus they come across. That was the kind thing to do, right? Right absolutely.

However the day comes when a growing, hungry grub will inevitably wander where it's not supposed to while his caretaker is tending his duties, and someone finds him. The next thing Mituna hears is the howling squeaks of his mutant getting towed to the grub crushers. He doesn't know what's happening until he finds himself tripping over his numb and clumsy feet two miles away with a migraine and ringing ears and a crying grub clutched to his chest as leftover static sparks nip at the air around them.

Now, Kanny grows up hearing stories of the poor working class as he and Mituna skip from town to town picking up odd jobs, running from anyone who might try to claim ownership over them. Mituna still has the brand on his skin after all. The brand of a thing who belongs to someone, and it can never be undone. Only hidden for so long without suspicion. Kankri grows up bony and quiet because speaking out of turn can get you in trouble in these parts. It can get you beaten and bleeding, and then it’s time to run again. He grows up paranoid of sleeping in towns, but he's really good at squeezing through bars and picking pockets for dinner fare. He learns first-hand how much a highblood purse won’t miss. His growling stomach hates them for it, for now.

The pair meet Meulin in the woods as they're fleeing a group of guards. These two scraggly beasts are both obviously the lowest of the low, so she's not frightened of them one bit. Even the old troll who smells like ozone is pitiable--perhaps more so. She takes the smaller one’s hand and rushes them to one of her many hiding places under the roots of the trees. She's the one who feeds them well for the first time in many perigees, and her furs are the first refuge from the chill in Mituna’s joints he’s found in sweeps.

At this point, Kankri has long been getting ideas and visions about trolls who don't have to starve. About trolls who don't kill each other for getting caught with borrowed coin in hand, because no one needs to steal in the first place. He sees psionics who don't work themselves to the bone every day to keep their charge healthy and who don't shrink so piteously under barked orders. But, no one will listen, because this group is just another bunch of lowbloods wishing for better things. Who doesn’t scheme a revolution now and then?

His kind words and gentle touches won't mean a damn if highbloods won't take them seriously. Perhaps another voice would do the trick. They need one more, and Kankri knows she was supposed to be here by now, but it’s alright because she’s coming soon.

One day, their fleeing has taken them full circle as Mituna recognizes the very caverns where he first found his grub. However, this time, there’s no carts or traders to drown out the noise of the plains around them. This time, there's a young matron outside, harvesting some berries from the brush to take back to the others. This time, when they lock eyes, he recognizes her. She was the one to deliver the first batch of grubs to his owners. What he won’t know, is that she was the first to show pity in these cruel times and set the tiny mutant free. Hers was the job he continued when she had faltered and been left to regret. 

There seems to be some recognition in her face too, but she doesn't know where to place him. Until, of course, the young mutant gets it in his head to run up and sheepishly tug her cloak to ask for some berries for his hungry friends. He knows this troll, and she will help them. A simple request turns into stories and questions and introductions.

And interest, most importantly. Porrim is fascinated and thrilled by Mituna’s choice to keep such a helpless thing around. She's inspired, to be quite honest. Further talks must wait though, as everyone's malnourished and she simply won't stand for it. They're invited to her hive for the day for some hot food and a proper sleep for once. She may have missed her chance on the first encounter, but the next time the band’s feet touch the road, a jadeblood’s follow close behind.


End file.
